In 1976, Fr. George Panikulam (current Apostolic Nuncio to Uruguay) celebrated the first Holy Mass in the Syro-Malabar rite in Ottawa. Archbishop Joseph-Aurèle Plourde (former Archbishop of Ottawa) provided permission to use St. Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church (now Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts) located in Lower Town to gather, pray and offer mass. Later, Mass and community gatherings were moved to Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Hintonburg and more recently, to St. Maurice Catholic Church in Nepean.

As per the request of Bishop Jose Kalluvelil and the community, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa decided to permit the use of St. John the Apostle Catholic Church for weekly Sunday Mass and catechism classes for the congregation. On June 26th, 2016, the parish was officially erected under the Syro-Malabar Exarchate and appointed Fr. George Danavelil as the first pastor.

The parish was formally called Blessed Mother Teresa Syro-Malabar Catholic Parish of Ottawa and on Sept 4th, the name changed to St. Mother Teresa Syro-Malabar Catholic Parish of Ottawa following the Canonization of Mother Teresa.